You can use the Rich Content Editor to embed images from Flickr Creative Commons. You can also add alt tags to your images for better accessibility.

When searching for images on Flickr, search results display images with a Creative Commons public domain license.

The Rich Content Editor is used in features that support the Editor (Announcements, Assignments, Discussions, Pages, and Quizzes). If a change is made to the source of your image after it has been embedded, the image you have added to the Rich Content Editor will not be changed.

Note: Although an image may appear in the Flickr Creative Commons, not all images have the same license. Some Flickr images require an attribution to appear within the image. You may want to confirm the image copyright before using it in your course. Click the image to view it directly on Flickr.

Open Rich Content Editor

Open the Rich Content Editor using one of the Canvas features which support the Editor.

Open Image

Click the Image icon.

Select Flickr Tab

Click the Flickr tab.

Search for Images

In the search bar [1], type in a word or phrase to search for images. Then click the Search icon [2] or press enter on the keyboard. Search results display all related images with a Creative Commons public domain license and may include more than one page.

Select Image

The images will automatically populate in the pop-up window. Select the image you want to embed.

Insert Alt Text

The Attributes field will populate the Alt text field [1], which is the name of the image. For better accessibility, type a description of the image contents. To add the image as decorative, click the Decorative image checkbox [2]. If the Decorative Image checkbox is selected, the alternative text field is grayed out.

Note: If you want to include an image title, which will appear when a user hovers over the image, embed the image and then switch to the HTML Editor. Title tags must be manually added to the HTML code.

Change Attributes Image Dimensions

The image’s default dimensions will also populate automatically. Dimensions are referenced in pixels defined by width then height.

To change the image dimensions, type in the number of pixels you would like for the new image width [1]. Then press the Tab key on your computer keyboard. Since Canvas maintains the aspect ratio of your image, the entry for the image height will be changed automatically [2].

Embed Image

Click the Update button.

Note: As a future shortcut, if you do not need to change any of your image's attributes, locate your image and simply double click the name of your image. The image will be embedded directly to your post.

View Embedded Image

View your embedded image in the Rich Content Editor.

Edit Image Properties

If you need to edit your embedded image, click the image [1], then click the Image icon [2]. The insert/edit window will appear to make changes.

When you edit an existing image, the URL tab will display the location of the Flickr image—the Flickr tab will be blank. The attributes will remain the same across all tabs and can be edited as necessary.

If you want to replace your Flickr image, click the Flickr tab [3] and search for a new image.

Visually Resize Image

You can also use the handles around the image to visually change the image size. To do this, click the image, then hover over one of the white bounding boxes until your cursor becomes an arrow. Drag and resize the image. Please note that the image will always retain its aspect ratio as to not become distorted.